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Sony Xperia S (Photo credit: John.Karakatsanis)

Perhaps because the bar was so high with earlier versions of Android, but with my updated Sony Xperia S now running 'Ice Cream Sandwich' 4.0.3, I'm left wondering what exactly makes the jump from the previous 'Gingerbread' version so important for this handset, and for handsets in the Android ecosystem in general.

I reviewed the Xperia S on Forbes earlier in the year. It delivered what you would expect in a modern Android smartphone, but I was left expecting more from Sony than 'competent'. Looking online at other reviews, they all seemed to agree that the Xperia S was 'a good phone' and 'did the job', but without the very latest version of Android many sites felt that they couldn't recommend it.

And this is one of the interesting dichotomies of Android.

The people driving the market-share of Android devices, the people walking into phone stores and walking out with smartphones from Sony, Samsung, and HTC, all carrying Google's little green man... very few of them actually care about the Android version their smartphone is running.

Unlike the tech writers who demand the biggest number and the latest release, mainstream buyers just want something that works and delivers what they want (if you want to keep track, O2 in the UK reckon the top five activities are internet browsing, social network activity, games, music, and making calls). These are all things that the Xperia S was really good at before the Ice Cream Sandwich update, and it's still really good at now Gingerbread is a digital memory.

My biggest issue with the update is a new font that takes up more physical space on the screen than the older font, and that means the personal connection I had with the handset now feels lost. Yes, there are improvements in many of the applications, but none of them seem to have fundamentally changed anything, because the suite of apps was already very strong.

Am I glad the update is now on my Xperia S? Yes, because I'm one of those geeks that likes to have the biggest number possible in my hands. Would it make any difference to one of my relatives using the Xperia S? Not really, no.

But launching the handset with Gingerbread and not Ice Cream Sandwich made all the difference to the Xperia's reputation in the small group of people who decided how much positive or negative buzz Sony's handset would get online. Once set, that perception is very hard to change.

This, more than anything, will drive manufacturers to push for the latest version of Android in their handsets. While there may be many sensible reasons to release a phone on a proven and stable version of Android (familiarity with the complex code, stable integration with hardware, and network certification being three that spring to mind), the zeal for 'something new' in the media will hamper that approach for the big players. If it's not got the biggest number, then it's not the best, it's not going to get the press behind it, and it's not going to sell.

It's a sentiment I don't agree with, but one that the Android market seems to have decided on.